“I didn’t see the sign warning me I had 10 minutes left,” he said. “Otherwise I would have gone faster, I would have posted a better time. I’m not tired. I thought my legs would hurt, but they don’t. My arms hurt, [but] you have to hurt somewhere.”

Fans chanted “Robert! Robert!” as he pedaled away the last minutes. He received a standing ovation and was mobbed by photographers and TV crews.

His physiologist, Veronique Billat, said Marchand could have been quicker, “but he made a big mistake. He has stopped eating meat over the past month after being shocked by recent reports on how animals are subjected to cruel treatment.”

Three years ago, Marchand rode 16.7 miles in one hour in the over-100 division.